Charles Easley

My First episode of "Class Is In Session"

Hey guys here is the first episode of my video blog "Class Is In Session"  

"Class Is In Session" Episode 1 Michael Brown: A Pattern of Violence from Charles Easley on Vimeo.

 

Did you hear about the Florida drag queen bandits? By Professor Locs – September 22, 2011

I swear, sometimes I run across stories that are just too good to be true. I want to thank my girl, Ramona Holloway, for this one. I saw it on her Facebook page.

Move over, Crips and Bloods; there is a new gang in town -- the Tiaras. No, seriously. Florida has been plagued by a gang of drag queens who have been stealing from stores for more than a year.

Local officers report that a group of men wearing wigs and dressed as women, (Hello, that would be drag queens) were arrested for stealing hundreds of dollars of bras, boas and other accessories. (Hey, we are living in a repressed economy, and looking fierce does not come cheaply.)

Three of the men, or “ladies,” were caught in the act Sunday afternoon at an Orlando textiles shop. The manager, Amanda Marshall, was quoted as saying, “It was a whole gang of drag queens.” (I think the technical term for multiple drag queens is a “gaggle.” Lol)

Marshall went on to state: "They were real upset when the police made them take their wigs off."

Well, of course they were upset. What self-respecting drag queen wants to have his mug shot taken bald headed and wigless?

Marshall said the group would order large swaths of expensive fabric and then stuff it "in their man purses and (leave) without paying."

I think the official term is man bag…lol.

"Oh, gosh, they could wipe out a whole section of boas in seconds," Marshall told a Florida paper.

The report states that the drag thieves stole multiple items, including packs of feathers, red lace gloves, false eyelashes, padded bras, butt pads, fishnet tights and several boas and fake glasses.

The visuals of this story is sensory overload. This is a serious movie in the makings. It would be like “To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar” meets “Set it Off.”

Trailer Announcer: Destiny Michaels, Ima Mann and Chardonnay Blunts are just three small-town ladies with big dreams. They long for the glitz and glamour of the stage and to one day perform in the big city, but their tired Walmart drag and Family Dollar salaries are not enough to make them stars. Follow their journey as a repressed economy, expensive bras and an escalating cost of rubber parts and accessories force them into a life of crime.

Ima Mann: I don’t think I can go through with this. What if we get caught?

Destiny Michaels: You want fame? Well, fame cost, and this is how we are going to pay for it. (Insert French tip open-hand slap to the mouth) Now get in there and snatch some bras!

Police: We have you ladies surrounded. Come out with your hands up and wigs off!

Ima Mann: Girls, what are we going to do now?

Chardonnay Blunts: I tell you what I am not going to do. I am not leaving as a nobody!

(Chardonnay rushes to the dressing room and a few moments later emerges in full glam drag.)

Cue music and police spotlight on Chardonnay Blunts

Chardonnay Blunts, singing: “And I am telling you, I’m not going.”

Announcer: Don’t miss the moving saga of three simple ladies and their heartwarming story filled with crime, passion, dreams and stolen boas. Coming soon to a theater near you!

I challenge you to come up with your own drag queen star name…lol.

 

Toddlers, tiaras and tatas By Professor Locs – September 7, 2011

I watch everything from TCM’s black-and-white films to the reality-induced craziness of “Jersey Shore.” I swear I have seen it all, but every now and then there is something that simply seems too bizarre by even today’s standards. I am talking about the tiny, freakish spectacle that is TLC’s popular reality show, “Toddler’s & Tiaras.”

If you have not seen it, the show is about the engaging and strange world of pageant moms and their children. What makes the show so disturbing is how the toddlers are treated and dressed up like mini-grown women.

Well, one mother has taken the big hair, mini ball gowns and flippers (fake teeth) to a whole new level. She made her 4-year-old daughter, Maddy Jackson, wear fake breast and butt pads. (Holy To Wong Foo, Batman. Are they serious?)

Granted, Maddy was doing a tribute to Dolly Parton, but was the Mom going too far to allow this?

Maddy’s mom, Lindsey, defended her decision: “When she wears the fake boobs and fake butt, it’s an added bonus,” she said.

I know this works at Drag shows, but for a little girl’s pageant?

Maddy’s mom continued: “It’s really funny when she comes out on stage; they think it’s hysterical. They realize not only is she Dolly but she has the added enhancements just like Dolly has.”

If they thought that was hysterical then maybe next year she will sport a pair of stilettos, fishnet panty hose and pasties and really crush the competition.

Toddlers & Tiaras is known for its trademark stage mom’s screeching, “Sparkle” to their sometimes-traumatized daughters. This reminds me of a scene from Gypsy where the ultimate stage mom, Rosalind Russell, screams out to her daughter played by Natalie Wood, “Sing out, Louise.”

Unfortunately in Gypsy, the mother is grooming her daughter for a career as a high-class stripper. Is Toddlers & Tiaras an example of art imitating life too closely?

I must put this into perspective. I was a freelance editor in Atlanta for FOX during the JonBenet Ramsey media spectacle. I remember, like many people, watching the eerie images of this woman-child prancing around like a life-sized doll, with big hair, short sparkly dresses and that haunting plastered pageant smile.

Side note: I find those life-size dolls to be very creepy, so sitting in an edit booth day after day and reviewing JonBenet footage was quite unnerving. Toddlers& Tiaras has a similar effect on me, almost like some bad, spicy, vending machine burrito-induced nightmare.

The pageant circuit is not just a mainstream phenomenon. I have spotted the occasional black stage mom and her daughter looking like a mini-Supreme…lol.

Many viewers have been outraged by the fake enhancements worn by Maddy. The bigger question is what type of mom dresses her daughter up in dramatic make-up, fake hair, false teeth, grown up gowns and now fake boobs and butt pads?

You guys watch the video (below) and tell me your opinion. Is this just innocent competition or moms trying to recapture their youth and glory days? Or should we be more concerned with forcing young girls to grow up too fast?

If unchecked, we could be in store for a future season of “Diminutive Damsels and Diamonds: The Stripper Pole Chronicles.” 

Juanita Bynum speaks in tongues...on her Facebook post By Professor Locs – August 31, 2011

Professor Locs, aka Charles Easley, is an educator who explores race, class, gender, sexuality, media and popular culture with humor and insight. His column is published here each Wednesday. Opinions expressed are solely his own. Click here to read his blog

 

 You guys know I love cruising for interesting news. I have to thank my girl Ramona Holloway from The Satisfied Life for turning me on to this story. I saw this posted on Ramona’s Facebook page.

It seem Juanita Bynum is in the news again. Best known for her work as a minister, inspirational speaker and recording artist, her life has been an inspiration to many, especially to women – which made her very public divorce all the more tragic. Bynum accused her then-husband, Bishop Thomas Weeks III, of spousal abuse and ultimately ended the marriage.

Now Bynum is making news for something a little more bizarre. Apparently, she was posting on her Facebook wall and got so caught up in the spirit that she began to post in tongues. (Holy anointed oil, Batman, I did not think that was possible!)

I have told you guys before that I am more of an academic scholar and not as well versed in theology, but I am familiar with the phenomenon of speaking in tongues. I queried several of my friends who are much more versed in the area of biblical studies. I got a range of opinions. Some said speaking in tongues is reserved for a chosen few; others said anyone could perform this act if they were “caught” up in the spirit.

I have witnessed people speaking in tongues in church, and when I was younger I even worked with a woman in customer service who was known for standing up in her cubicle and speaking in tongues after a particularly combative call. I was fascinated by how uncomfortable this made her boss and co-workers.

Side note for those who do not possess the gift of speaking in tongues: If you want to have a similar effect at your job, I have found that yelling random lyrics from any Parliament song will work just as well.

Example: Your boss confronts you on your tardiness.

You respond loudly: “Make My Funk the Pee Funk.”

This response will either confuse your boss into silence or security will be alerted. Practice at your own risk.

Now back to Juanita Bynum. I had to really wrap my head around, logistically, how one can do a Facebook post in tongues? I have this wonderful ap called "Shazam" on my iPhone. It allows me to listen to any song and it will generate the song’s title and artist. I wonder if there is a similar ap for speaking tongues.

Again, when I spoke to other more knowledgeable about speaking in tongues, opinions varied. I think some feel left out because they do not understand the language. If only there were a closed-caption feature for the big monitors in church that allowed non-tongue speakers to follow along.

One person I interviewed said more people are claiming to have the gift. If this trend continues, I wonder if the makers of the Rosetta Stone language-learning series will include tongues in their next edition.

I am not mad at Bynum for using social networks to get the word out. I use Facebook very effectively to communicate with my students. However, I am concerned about how, logistically, you translate speaking in tongues to a Facebook post.

Here is just an excerpt from one of her post:

As usual, guys, I am being somewhat sarcastic, but I am truly baffled by this. I am not sure if this is a speaking-in-tongues post or hardware malfunction. I once had bits of candy stuck in my keyboard that caused a similar effect when I typed.

Those of you who are a lot more spiritually learned than I, please share your comments. Is this proof of Bynum’s anointing? Did she mix medication? Get distracted by an episode of “Basketball Wives?” Or, like me, was her keyboard the victim of some late night snacking?

It's time we adults take it to the flash-mob crowd By Professor Locs – August 24, 2011

We are being inundated with images from the media covering an ever-increasing series of “flash mobs.”

Professor Locs

Recently, some Wisconsin youth at a state fair participated in a flash mob scene. Eric, who asked News radio 620 WTMJ not to use his last name, recalled incidents he witnessed that night: “I looked toward the bridge, right before you get on the freeway, and all I saw was a road full of black kids, jumping over people’s cars, jumping on people’s hoods, running over the top of them.”

It seems most of the violent behavior at the fair was being directed at white patrons. Some say the incident was motivated by hip-hop music being played at the fair. I found this to be ridiculous that people actually think that black youth have some Pavlovian response to rap music, especially considering that the featured artist at the Wisconsin State Fair was M.C. Hammer, an artist known more for his mainstream appeal. (“Don’t Touch This” and genie pants do not exactly inspire an enraged state of mind.)

Philadelphia has also seen a recent rise in flash mob activity. More than 50 teens were arrested there after a city curfew crackdown was implemented. This was Mayor Michael Nutter’s response to prevent future incidents. The curfew sweep in Philadelphia included the arrest of youth as young as 11 years old.

Really, people, where are the parents and how and why is an 11-year-old child roaming around the city after 9 p.m., unescorted by an adult?

Mayor Nutter berated the out-of-control black teens in a public rant: “You have damaged your own race,” he said. “If you walk into somebody’s office with your hair uncombed and a pick in the back, and your shoes untied, and your pants half down, tattoos up and down your arms and on your neck, and you wonder why somebody won’t hire you? They don’t hire you ’cause you look like you’re crazy.”

We have observed similar behavior right here in Charlotte as black youth chose to show up and show out during an uptown event. There have been some positive initiatives like the one by a local group of African-American men calling them selves “Men Who Care Global.” They want to model the behavior of how a group of African-American men can and should act in public.

While I applaud their efforts, I must also ask is this enough?

According to dictionary.com, a flash mob is defined as: a large group of people mobilized by social media to meet in a public place for the purpose of doing an unusual or entertaining activity of short duration.

The term “flash mob” has historically been linked to a group who wants to gather and make political and cultural statements and/or share artistic exchanges. So when did this concept get warped into the act of rebellious youth acting out in violent ways? And more specifically, when did the term become synonymous in the media with black youth showing out like they have absolutely no home training?

I spoke with my colleague, Professor Thomas Cooper, who teaches sociology, and he explained that we have seen this type of flash-mob behavior before, beginning in the ’70s when urban youth would go “wilding.” Wilding is when a group of youth would go out and participate in aggressive and destructive behavior. It’s kind of like spring break but without MTV as a sponsor.

Professor Cooper went on to explain that there should be shared responsibility between judicial agencies like the police and grassroots leadership within the community. This reinforces the community as advocates rather than adversaries.

I have said before that some black youth not only understand the “thug” stereotype but also have chosen to embrace it. Why? Because they know that people fear them and it gives them a warped since of power. Think about it; if they are young and feeling disenfranchised, receiving even negative attention is better than feeling invisible and hopeless.

There needs to be a revolution of thought and action, especially among African-American adults.

I recently read something someone posted on Facebook concerning the flash-mob mentality. They suggested that adults should use similar tactics. Now this strategy is not for the fainthearted, Dr. Spock, time out, get in touch with your inner child, Maury Povich help me my child is out of control type of authority figure.

No, guys, we need to tap into our community and cultural resources. We need to bring back the belt-wielding Uncle Shortys, Aunt Lucilles, Big Mommas and old-school paddle-packing teachers, principals and coaches. So the next time an unruly group of youth decides to organize a flash mob scene, they are met by a seasoned flash force of disciplinarians ready to take it to the butt.

Maybe if the youth see that not only are we unafraid but that we are also prepared to execute some public home training, maybe then they may not feel so disenfranchised.

How is that for a brief but culturally entertaining exchange?

I am being somewhat facetious, but I welcome your thoughts on how best to take back our children?